Day 16: Homeward Bound

Tomorrow she comes home! Last night I truthfully thought she was not ready to come home yet. Monday she had spent most of the day in pain or out cold because of the narcotics they gave her to fight the pain. Louise is so sensitive to drugs that I usually tell anesthesiologists to make aspirin the general anesthetic when they need to knock her out. Yesterday she had no energy. Even getting out of bed was a real strain. So as I left her last night I went to the nurse and almost demanded that she not be given the narcotic they had been giving her if she had pain. Give her Tylenol. When I arrived this morning she was a changed person. She felt so much better. She had little pain and had not been given any pain medicine overnight. She could roll out of bed on her own and use the bathroom without help. She was ready to walk. Five times we took walks around every pod on the 7th floor. She had energy and she was a happier person. She even doubled the height on her spirometer. That gave her so much confidence.

So then at about 1 pm, Dr. Perry comes in and tells her she is cleared to go home tomorrow (Wednesday). He was very pleased with her progress. Louise was very excited. Last night she really didn't feel like she was ever going to be well enough to get out. We both feel she is now. Not that it will be easy being home without a call button and a shot of pain killer with just push of a button. But the comforts of your own soft bed and your own pajamas that don't have tubes coming out of every opening is so exciting. I'm home now trying to arrange for alarms to go off every 10 minutes and I'm training the kids how to wake her up every half hour to take her temperature and draw blood. We don't want her to get too comfortable all at once and feel too strange in a dark room all night with no noise.

We met with the dietitian today and set up the feeding regime. She will remain on the same feeding pump that she was on before the surgery. She can pretty much get most of her daily nourishment needs from the pump overnight. Then as she is allowed to eat more as time goes on, we will cut the amount of feeding nourishment she gets. Right now she will stay on soft foods until the doctor is sure that solid foods won't hurt the connecting tissues in her neck. We don't know how long that will be. She also might have to take home an oxygen tank for a little while.

So this was the best day she has had in the hospital, not only for getting the ticket to go home, but also to finally feel better and be more mobile. We will let you know how home feels to her tomorrow. Thanks for caring!

Spence